Alternative headline: Tree takes a lightning strike and is somehow still standing? I don’t know who the actual winner is here. The lightning bolt that struck the tree and rocked half of the trunk away while flooring all of its branches or is it the tree that takes the bolt’s best shot and hangs in there quite…

Cities have been kicking out cars to curb pollution and boost the well-being of their residents. But Madrid has proposed something even smarter. It’s not only banning cars from its downtown, it’s adding more green space. This is an important part of the equation that many cities don’t get right.

Carbon fiber is one of the strongest and most resilient materials on the market, used in everything from car frames
to body armor. It's also incredibly expensive to make. But one plant biologist says that in fifty years, we'll be growing it on trees.

Matt Yglesias of Slate wrote Monday morning about a Washington Post article on how tree canopy's density in a neighborhood reflects income in Washington D.C. I think the discussion he sparks can be used comparatively with what's taking place in Detroit around the downtown and midtown districts.

What's the first thing that occurs to a man when he comes across a tree twenty feet in diameter? Does he experience a sense of awe at being in the presence of a gigantic, ancient living thing whose scale makes him question his own significance? Hell no! He hacks a great big hole through the trunk at ground level and…